1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sports shoe, comprising an outer shell made from a relatively rigid plastic, an inner shoe mounted at least partly therein, which is comparatively flexible, and an annular tightening means for the shoe collar.
2. Prior Art
A generic sports shoe, in particular a ski shoe with an annular tightening means for the shoe collar is known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,594 A. Said tightening means for limiting the width or tightening the upper end section of the shoe collar consists in this case of several, in particular three strap elements arranged in a row and connected or connectable at their ends in a chain-like manner. The central or middle strap element of the tightening means which is closed in a ring-like manner in the position of use is designed to be elastically extensible. The strap elements connected to the end sections of the elastic strap element can be connected together securely at their ends facing away from the elastic strap element by means of a fastener-like adjusting means, whereby the effective length of the tightening means can be adjusted individually. In the position of use in which the tightening means is active, due to the elastic strap section a relatively constant pressure is exerted directly onto the shoe collar and indirectly onto the section of the inner shoe surrounding the lower leg of the user. This means that an activated tightening means with the interconnection of the outer, hard shoe collar exerts a specific preloading force on the inner shoe and thus consequently on the lower leg of the user. This elastic strap section is designed to prevent any loosening of the shoe collar and the formation of spaces between the lower leg and the shoe collar even after a long period of use during which many loading and unloading movements occur. In particular, by means of this design the pressure between the leg of the user and shoe can be kept constant even over a long period. By means of this known design of tightening means with an elastic strap section any unwanted loosening of the shoe collar can be counteracted during the progressive use of the sports shoe, but the wearing comfort of the ski shoe is not improved in this way.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,067 A a generic sports shoe with a tightening means for the upper neck section is also known. This strap-like tightening means extends from the rear section of the relatively rigid collar of the sports shoe in a ring shape up to the front collar section of the sports shoe, and in the actively tightened state supports the front side of the tongue of the comfort inner shoe inserted into the sports shoe, so as to prevent the widening of the inner shoe in the tongue section. However, this known design is not wholly satisfactory
For sports shoes with a relatively flexible elastic inner shoe and an outer shell body that is comparatively rigid and surrounds the inner shoe at least partly, it is particularly important for the inner shoe to provide the user of the sports shoe with a high degree of comfort. The main purpose of the outer shell body is to transfer force to a sports device effectively, as in the case e.g. of ski shoes, roller or ice skates, snowboards and the like. In order to prevent unpleasant pressure points on the foot of the user, the known inner shoes are provided with thick padding and the inner shoes are tailored as precisely as possible to the shape of the foot of the respective user by using foaming procedures. These measures only produce partly satisfactory results however, and the individual foaming or fitting procedures are labour intensive, in particular time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, inner shoes are known which have board-like reinforcing elements stitched or adhered onto the outside. In addition, in known inner shoes partial recesses or depressions are provided for specific parts of the foot, e.g. for the knuckles, in order to prevent unpleasant pressure points on the foot of the respective user. With respect to the structure of the inner shoe these measures increase the production costs of the sports shoe and such preventative measures cannot be adjusted to individual needs or the diverse foot shapes of different users. Moreover, these types of inner shoe cannot be altered afterwards.